Method and system for customizing television content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9241187-B2
Application number	US-201313918268-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2013
Priority date	Jun 14, 2012
Publication date	Jan 19, 2016
Grant date	Jan 19, 2016

Abstract

An intelligent television is provided that can collect viewer information for use by a rating service.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
determining, by a microprocessor executable network discovery module, whether one or more computational devices are in communication, via a local area network, with an intelligent television, the intelligent television being associated with a set of viewers, the determining comprising generating a network topology of the one or more computational devices in communication, via a local area network, with the intelligent television, the network topology comprising one or more of a listing of the type of the one or more computational devices, status of the one or more computational devices, viewer supplied credential for the one or more computational devices, estimated physical location of the one or more computational devices, and IP address of the one or more computational devices, wherein the network topology is generated from network topology information maintained by the one or more computational devices;
collecting, by a microprocessor executable viewer information collection module associated with the intelligent television, a set-top box, and/or set meter, viewer information regarding content from a content distributor viewed by the set of viewers using the intelligent television and viewed by the set of viewers using the one or more computational devices in communication, via a local area network, with the intelligent television, set-top box, and/or set meter, one or more Internet-capable computational devices providing content to the set of viewers, comprising one or more of a cellular phone, tablet computer, laptop, personal computer, personal digital assistant, and e-reader;
tagging, by a microprocessor executable tagging module associated with the intelligent television, a set-top box, and/or set meter, the collected viewer information, wherein tags used in tagging one or more of characterize, summarize and refer to a type and/or content of the collected viewer information associated with an assigned tag;
applying, by a microprocessor executable filtration module associated with the intelligent television, a set-top box, and/or set meter, one or more rule sets to the collected viewer information, using one or more assigned tags, to determine which of the collected viewer information is to be transmitted; and
transmitting, from a household associated with the intelligent television and over an untrusted network, the filtered collected viewer information to a remote destination for determining a rating based, at least in part, on the filtered collected viewer information, wherein the rating is determined by an audience measurement algorithm and wherein the viewer information collection module determines whether a selected one of the one or more Internet-capable computational devices is part of the local area network of the set of viewers and applies the following rules: (i) when the selected one of the one or more Internet-capable computational devices is part of the local area network as determined by the network topology, the viewer information collection module collects viewer information from the one or more Internet-capable computational devices and (ii) when the selected one of the one or more Internet-capable computational devices is not part of the local area network as determined by the network topology, the viewer information collection module does not collect viewer information from the one or more Internet-capable computational devices.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote destination determines content to be provided to the viewer based, at least in part, on the filtered collected viewer information, wherein the intelligent television is one or more of a high-definition television, internet television, internet protocol television, smart television, satellite television, and web television, wherein the remote destination is associated with a rating service, wherein the content distributor is not a content provider, wherein the untrusted network is the internet, wherein the viewer information is time stamped information relating to numbers and types of the one or more Internet-capable computational devices and one or more of television programming viewed by the viewer, media and/or multimedia content accessed from a content distributor by the viewer using the one or more Internet-capable computational devices, internet browsing history of the viewer, Web sites visited by the viewer, applications accessed and/or loaded by the viewer, frequency of application usage, name of the viewer, a characteristic of the viewer, an interest of the viewer, and a socioeconomic status of the viewer, and wherein the network topology information is maintained as a management information base by the one or more computational devices and accessed by the network discovery module.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the collected viewer information is used to determine specific advertising information to be provided by the intelligent television to the set of viewers, whereby different sets of viewers concurrently viewing the programming content from a common content distributor would receive different advertising information based on differences in the respective collected viewer information for each set of viewers.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein, when the selected one of the one or more Internet-capable computational devices is determined to be part of the local area network as determined by the network topology, the viewer information collection module determines an appropriate rule set to govern interaction with the selected one of the one or more Internet-capable computational devices, wherein different types of Internet-capable computational devices correspond to different rule sets governing interaction with the Internet-capable computational devices, wherein the applying step is performed by a microprocessor executable filtration module associated with the intelligent television, wherein the one or more rule sets define what type of tagged viewer information can be transmitted, and wherein the one or more rule sets are applied to the collected viewer information using one or more tags assigned to the collected viewer information.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least part of a purchase price paid by the viewer for the intelligent television was paid for by a rating service associated with the remote destination in exchange for access by the rating service to the collected viewer information, wherein a microprocessor executable provisioning or enforcement module partially or completely disables a selected feature of the intelligent television when the set of viewers has failed to satisfy the access requirement required by the rating service to the collected viewer information, and wherein the microprocessor executable provisioning module enables the selected feature of the intelligent television when the set of viewers has provided the required access by the rating service to the collected viewer information.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein, for the set of viewers, programming content provided by the intelligent television varies based on which viewers of the set of viewers is currently watching programming content provided by the intelligent television and wherein a content distributor, based on the transmitted collected viewer information, determines at least one of customized advertising to be presented to a first viewer of the set of viewers when the first viewer is watching the intelligent television and different programming content to be provided to a second viewer when the second viewer is watching the intelligent television.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that a viewer has failed to comply with at least one contractual restriction and/or requirement previously agreed to by the viewer, the agreem

Assignees

• Flextronics Ap Llc

Inventors

• Ricci Christopher P

Classifications

• H04N21/2668

  Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles {(information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063)} · CPC title

• H04N21/4756

  for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie · CPC title

• H04N21/25891

  being end-user preferences (retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18) · CPC title

• H04N21/44218

  Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV programme (methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45) · CPC title

• H04N21/44204 Primary

  Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched (monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31) · CPC title